68 FORESTRY INVESTIGATIONS U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



■ Iii aspect and habit the longleaf and Cuban pine somewhat resemble each other. The large 

 silvery white buds of the longleaf pine, which constitutes its most striking character, and the 

 candelabra-like naked branches with brush-like tufts of foliage at the end readily distinguish it 

 from the Cuban pine, which bears a fuller and denser crowu. The dark-green, glossy, and heavy 

 foliage of the latter readily distinguishes this again from the loblolly, where these may appear 

 associated, the latter having sea-green and thinner foliage. 



As a rule, the Cuban pine grows taller (up to 110 or 115 feet, with a diameter of 2J to 3 feet) 

 than the longleaf, which rarely exceeds 105 feet and 20 to 30 inches in diameter. The Cuban pine 

 forms massive horizontally spreading limbs, and at maturity a crown with rounded outlines. The 

 longleaf pine forms a more flattened crown with massive but twisted gnarled limbs, which are 

 sparingly branched. 



The thin bark of the longleaf (only one-quarter to one-half inch thick), of uniform reddish 

 brown color throughout, exfoliates in thin, almost transparent, rhombic flakes; the thick bark of 

 the Cuban pine of the same color exfoliates in very thin, broad, purplish flakes. 



The shortleaf pine is readily distinguished by the comparatively shorter and more scant 

 appearance of its foliage. Moreover, this species is at once recognized by its characteristically 

 small cones. Its habit is spreading, if compared with the more ascending, compact habit of the 

 loblolly. At maturity the shortleaf has a much shorter bole (S5 to 95 feet, diameter 1 J to 2 feet) 

 than the loblolly (125 to 150 feet, diameter 4 to 5 feet), with which it is often associated, and a 

 more pyramid-shaped crown. 



The reddish bark of the shortleaf in mature trees is broken into long plates, while the loblolly 

 bark appears of grayish color and breaks into broader, larger, and more deeply fissured plates. 



Distribution and Habitat. 



The geographical distribution of the areas within which these four pines occur and their 

 commercial development in them are shown in the accompanying maps, prepared by Dr. Charles 

 Mohr for the monograph referred to. 



It is to be understood that not all the land within the boundaries indicated in the maps has 

 been or is now covered by pine growth, but simply that within the lines the pines are found growing 

 naturally. Nor is it to be understood that the areas which are indicated as producing a certain 

 cut per acre do not contain places on which much more or much less lumber could be cut than the 

 average figures given. These represent only a very general average for the region, based on 

 conservative estimates, made for the purpose of showing more clearly the distribution in masses 

 through the entire field of botanical distribution. 



These approximations do not pretend to serve as guides to the purchaser of timber lands 

 further than to indicate in what regions he is likely to find the pine sought for in greatest abun- 

 dance and best development. A lumber dealer may also learn at one glance that he can not 

 possibly be supplied with longleaf pine from a mill in Arkansas, nor with shortleaf pine from a 

 mill on the Gulf coast, unless it be supplied with logs from inland. 



Within the boundaries of geographical distribution each species is found to occupy certain 

 soils and sites, which form its habitat. The habitat of the pines in general is found on sandy and 

 mostly well-drained soils. In regard to moisture conditions of the soil, the different species adjust 

 themselves differently. The longleaf pine is found (only exceptionally otherwise) on the best- 

 drained, deep, sandy, siliceous alluvium, while the Cuban pine is confined to the moister flats or 

 pine meadows of the coast, and will grow closely down to the sandy swamps, not objecting to 

 clayey admixtures in the soil, but shunning the dry, sandy pine hills. The shortleaf pine prefers 

 a well-drained, light, sandy or gravelly clay soil or warm light loam, while the loblolly, often 

 struggling with the shortleaf for the possession of the soil, can adapt itself to wetter situations. 



Extent of Merchantable Pine. 



The entire region within which these pines occur in merchantable condition comprises about 

 230,000 square miles or, in round numbers, 147,000,000 acres; for land in farms, etc., 10,000,000 

 acres must be deducted, and allowing as much as two- thirds of the remainder as representing pine 

 lands (the other to hard woods), we would have abou t 90,000,000 acres on which pine may occur. 

 An average growth of 3,000 feet per acre — an extravagant figure when referred to such an area — 



